Jeweler Caitlin Mociun’s “Romance” with Diamonds Began in a Red Hook Jewlery Shop
Like a first kiss or crush, everyone remembers their first diamond infatuation, be it their mother’s Deco engagement ring, the perfect pair of Tiffany studs or Elizabeth Taylor’s jaw-dropping collection (which fetched a whopping $156,756,576 at Christie’s last December in case you were wondering).
For Brooklyn-based designer Caitlin Mociun—whose eponymous Williamsburg boutique has become a go-to source for unique pottery, home wares, art objects and a tantalizing collection of fine jewelry—the “romance” blossomed slowly, initiated by irresistible antique baubles at Red Hook’s Erie Basin, and was then consummated with her own elegant diamond creations.
“My parents didn’t have wedding or engagement rings,” Mociun says. “So I didn’t grow up thinking ‘oh, I’ll inherit this amazing ring someday.’ Actually, I don’t think my grandmothers even had engagement rings. When I started shopping at Erie Basin, [an antique jewelry store in Red Hook], that was the first time I saw a diamond ring I knew I really wanted. They had Victorian rings with small diamonds and turquoise and yellow gold…I just loved them, and they became sources of inspiration as I started designing my own collection. At first, I just used small diamonds as accent stones—it was never my first inclination to use them as main stones—but as I started wearing pieces with more diamonds, I found myself working with them more. You could say the romance grew over time. Customers will tell me, ‘oh, I never wear diamonds,’ and I can tell them pretty confidently that once you start, you inevitably fall in love with them. They’re so popular because they really are amazing, and nothing else looks like them.”
The designer also confesses to feeling more of a connection to antique diamonds than new, laser-cut stones. “When I look at a new white diamond—larger ones, anyway, because with the small ones it’s harder to tell—but if I look at a new one and an antique one, I’m much more connected to the antique stone because they’re cut a little more irregularly,” she explains. “Finding [an antique diamond] that has a good cut and good color and clarity is difficult, but when you do find one, there is something special there. They have a richness that I don’t feel when I look at a new white diamond. Cubic zirconia doesn’t look like a diamond. It doesn’t sparkle the same way, it doesn’t have the same brilliance. I also like that you can see the hand of the person that cut the stone in the older diamonds. New ones are so perfect—humans still cut diamonds, but there are lasers and machines that make them more precise. And that’s beautiful, too, but for me there’s a visible difference in the antique diamonds that makes them more appealing.”
Shop Caitlin Mociun’s collection at Mociun.com, or stay up-to-date on the designer’s latest inspirations on Instagram.
